In Duxbury, exhibit showcases remarkable Bradford sisters

Wednesday

Sep 20, 2017 at 4:38 PMSep 20, 2017 at 4:41 PM

Jody Feinberg The Patriot Ledger

DUXBURY - In an historic house once home to Duxbury abolitionists and Civil War volunteers, visitors come upon the words, “What do you fight for?” The question reflects the new mission of the Bradford House to highlight the relevance and inspiration of the past.

“It’s not just about preserving the house and telling the stories of the Bradford sisters,” said Erin McGough, executive director of the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society. “But we hope people experience something that makes them reflect on their own lives.”

Once dark, filled with period furniture and rarely visited, the 1808 Bradford House has been transformed with an engaging exhibit, “Four Bradford Daughters: Lives Well Lived.” The simple, Federal-style home continues to tell the stories of the ship captain Samuel Bradford and his wife, Sarah, (who built it), but now highlights their four daughters who grew up, and (with the exception of the oldest) lived their entire lives there.

“It’s incredible that they lived independently and held onto the house,” said McGough, adding that the fourth generation of the family donated the house to the historical society in 1968.

With renewed interest in the Civil War since its bicentennial, the “re-imagination” of the Bradford House is timely and offers a first look at a Duxbury family during that time. Visitors can tour the exhibit – which includes audio and hands-on elements – on select weekends through mid-November, or arrange a private tour. Regular hours return in late spring.

With $520,000 from its capital campaign, the society repaired the structure, conducted archaeological investigations in the basement, and combed through its collection of letters, documents and objects. The investigation discovered that the parlor and hall walls, now muddy green, have the original paint, which at the time was a green/blue with a glossy, light-reflecting sheen. That’s rare, as is the abundance of the family archives.

“They are one of the best documented Duxbury families because they were prolific letter writers, so we know a lot about them,” said McGough, who created the exhibit with assistance from historian Carolyn Ravenscroft of Duxbury. “The parents laid the foundation for the daughters, and they were very close knit.”

As visitors move through the four rooms, they travel chronologically from the sisters’ vibrant to isolated years. Through the exhibit’s text panels, McGough explains mid-19th centuries attitudes about women, alcohol and other issues that influenced the sisters, providing an important context for their lives, including their singleness.

It’s interesting to learn, for example, that The Cult of Single Blessedness was popular before the Civil War. And that married women lost legal rights, since they could not own property or manage finances without a husband’s approval.

“A lot of people ask why they never married, and we don’t know the answer,” McGough said. “But they were aware of the struggles of being a wife and mother and pursuing academics, and that it was socially acceptable to not marry. And they were controversial as abolitionists at a time when only one to two percent of the population would identify as that.

“Everyone on the abolitionist preaching circuit stopped by this house,” said McGough, who created a display of some of the visitors.

Through audio and letter excerpts, the exhibit offers insight into the bravery of early anti-slavery proponents and the painfulness of the Civil War.

Maria, the only one to marry, moved to Ohio and led a life of financial instability after her husband, the Rev. Claudius Bradford, was fired in 1851 for his impassioned sermon against slavery in his Bridgewater church. Visitors can hear his sermon read by the Rev. Paul Sprecher, the current pastor of First Parish Church in Bridgewater.

Charlotte, the youngest, took the unusual step at age 48 to go to Washington, D.C., to help Union soldiers During her three-and-a-half years of service, she served in hospitals and later became the matron of the Home for Wives and Mothers, where she helped more than a thousand women who came to the city to find male relatives who had been wounded or died. She kept a diary, one of only six known written by Civil War nurses, and there is a chapter dedicated to her in the book “Women’s Work in the Civil War: A Record of Heroism, Patriotism and Patience,” on view in the exhibit.

When Charlotte sought her help, sister Lucia – a published poet – came to the Home for Wives and Mothers for six months. In her journals – excerpted in the exhibit – she wrote poignantly about women desperate to find and nurse their loved ones and grieving when they discovered they had died.

While Elizabeth, Lucia and Charlotte lived frugally from an inheritance and periodic teaching income, they struggled financially in their latter years, dying in their eighties in 1890 and 1893. The independence that served the sisters so well when they were healthy became a source of stress for their relatives because they refused to accept outside care to cope with illness and age.

In a room exploring 19th century medicine and illness, there’s a Goodwin Invalid Bedstead, a mechanical bed that their nephew purchased to make it easier for Charlotte and Lucia to lift Elizabeth after she had a stroke. But she refused to use it. Also interesting is the Moule’s Dry Earth Commode, an alternative to outhouses and commodes that was an early example of an indoor toilet and a forerunner of today’s composting toilet. It’s not clear if anyone used that either.

“They faced the struggle to maintain health and deal with change,” McGough said. “It’s not that different from today.”

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